Posted on 04/29/2003 9:31:13 PM PDT by FairOpinion
THE SARS situation in the Chinese capital was "severe" and a shortage of hospital beds was preventing patients getting timely treatment, Beijing's acting mayor has warned.
He said the source of the infection had yet to be cut off.
"The CPC Beijing Committee and Beijing municipal government believes that at the present time the situation in Beijing remains severe for SARS prevention and treatment," acting mayor Wang Qishan said at a news conference.
"As the infection source has not yet been cut off, numbers of confirmed and suspected SARS cases remain high.
"Due to a shortage of berths at designated hospitals, not all suspected SARS patients can be hospitalised there in a timely manner."
According to the Beijing SARS Prevention and Control Centre, 19 medical facilities have been designated as SARS hospitals. At least three of them have been sealed off with no new patients being accepted.
The extent of how stretched Beijing's medical facilities have become is highlighted by the fact that a completely new hospital has been built on the city's outskirts in barely a week.
Patients are expected to move in this evening.
Since the government admitted to covering up the extent of the SARS outbreak in Beijing, the number of cases have risen by about 100 or more each day.
By yesterday 66 deaths had been reported and 1347 infections, many of them are medical workers. There are an additional 1358 suspected cases.
Wang pledged that there would be no more underreporting of the situation.
"I can say with responsibility that all figures that are reported are accurate," he said. "Any act of underreporting or attempt to cover up will be dealt with severely."
Wang, who was appointed last week after former mayor Meng Xuenong was fired for his handling of the crisis, acknowledged growing social instability in the capital where people have been panic buying and fleeing the city.
"As the panic of the public has not yet been alleviated, a great deal of work is needed to ensure social stability," he said, but denied the city would be isolated.
"As one of the decision makers in Beijing I can say we haven't made any such decision."
It's unfortunate that they didn't take it seriously enough from the beginning.
At last - honesty in both an assessment *and* an article title - both rare commodities these days ...
I guess that thousand bed death camp err I mean hospital that we heard about is filled up already!
What good news.
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